open source and free culture
fdm 20c introduction to digital media
lecture 16.10.2008
warren sack / film & digital media department / university of california, santa cruz
last time: conceptual art / software
art
outline for today
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definition: what is open source software?
examples of open source software
history of free software and open source
open source business models
open source software development model
open source art?
– what, other than software, might be open source?
• free culture: open source licensing models & beyond
– copyleft and other legal means
– lessig’s creative commons project
• where will possible midterm questions be posted?
what is open source software?
• Open Source software is distributed with its
source code. The Open Source Definition has
three essential features:
– It allows free re-distribution of the software without
royalties or licensing fees to the author
– It requires that source code be distributed with the
software or otherwise made available for no more
than the cost of distribution
– It allows anyone to modify the software or derive
other software from it, and to redistribute the modified
software under the same terms.
• Steven Weber, The Political Economy of Open Source
Software, BRIE Working Paper 140,
• http://brie.berkeley.edu/~briewww/pubs/pubs/wp/wp140.pdf
what is free/libre/open source
software?
• Users are allowed to run the software for any
purpose.
• Users are able to closely examine and study the
software and are able to freely modify and
improve it to fill their needs better.
• Users are able to give copies of the software to
other people to whom the software will be useful
• Users are able to improve the software and
freely distribute their improvements to the
broader public so that they, as a whole, benefit.
– FLOSS Is Not Just Good for Your Teeth
Other definitions of OSS
• http://www.opensource.org/docs/osd
• http://www.fsf.org
• Florian Cramer essay assigned in today’s
readings
• Note also that Eben Moglen of Columbia
University and the Free Software Foundation
(original author of the “copyleft” General Public
License) is speaking today on campus: 3:00pm
at the University Center in the Alumni Room.
examples of open source software
• Operating Systems
– Linux
– FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD: The BSDs are all
based on the Berkeley Systems Distribution of Unix,
developed at the University of California, Berkeley.
Another BSD based open source project is Darwin,
which is the foundation of Apple's Mac OS X.
examples of open source software
• Internet
– Apache, which runs over 50% of the world's web
servers.
– BIND, the software that provides the DNS (domain
name service) for the entire Internet.
– sendmail, the most important and widely used email
transport software on the Internet.
– Mozilla, the open source redesign of the Netscape
Browser
– OpenSSL is the standard for secure communication
(strong encryption) over the Internet.categories.
example of open source software
• Programming Tools
– Zope, and PHP, are popular engines behind the "live
content" on the World Wide Web.
– Languages:
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Perl
Python
Ruby
Tcl/Tk
– GNU compilers and tools
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GCC
Make
Autoconf
Automake
etc.
open source software sites
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Free Software Foundation www.fsf.org
Open Source Initiative www.opensource.org
Freshmeat.net
SourceForge.net
OSDir.com
developer.BerliOS.de
Bioinformatics.org
see also individual project sites; e.g.,
www.apache.org; www.cpan.org; etc.
some dates from the history of open source
• 1970s: UNIX operating system developed at
Bell Labs and by a diverse group of contributors
outside of Bell Labs; later AT&T enforces
intellectual property rights and “closes” the code
• 1983: Richard Stallman founds the Free
Software Foundation
• 1993: Linus Torvalds releases first version of
Linux built
• 1997: Debian Free Software Guidelines
released
• 1998: Netscape releases Navigator in source
conventional models
of software development
• waterfall
– from requirements to code without a backward turn
• historically used for large military and corporate software
productions; originally used because computing time was
expensive
• spiral
– iterative cycles of requirements, development,
testing, redrafting of requirements, etc.
• B. W. Boehm. “A spiral model of software development and
enhancement”. IEEE Computer, 21(5):61--72, 1988
open source software development
• bazaar
– “Treating your users as co-developers is your leasthassle route to rapid code improvement and effective
debugging.”
– Linus’s Law: “Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are
shallow.”
– Eric Steven Raymond, The Cathedral and the
Bazaar, http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedralbazaar/cathedral-bazaar/
open source software development
Users
Documenters
Users
Bug reporters
Patchers
Maintainers
Core
developer(s)
Users
Users
open source business models
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service
support
education
extensions
open source companies
• IBM
• uses and develops Apache and Linux; created Secure Mailer
and created other software on AlphaWorks
• Apple
• released core layers of Mac OS X Server as an open source
BSD operating system called Darwin; open sourced the
QuickTime Streaming Server, the OpenPlay network gaming
toolkit, etc.
• HP
• uses and releases products running Linux
• Sun
• uses Linux; supports some open source development
efforts(Forte IDE for Java and the Mozilla web browser)
open source companies
• Red Hat Software
– Linux vendor
• ActiveState
– develops and sells professional tools for Perl,
Python, and Tcl/tk developers.
open source licensing
• see http://www.opensource.org/licenses/
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apache software license
python license
ibm public license
apple public source license
etc.
GNU General Public License
• see http://www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl3.0.html
creative commons
• non-software licenses: see larry lessig’s “creative
commons” project
(http://www.creativecommons.org/learn/licenses)
creative commons’ licenses explained
• Attribution. You let others copy, distribute,
display, and perform your copyrighted work —
and derivative works based upon it — but only if
they give you credit.
– Example: Jane publishes her photograph with an
Attribution license, because she wants the world to
use her pictures provided they give her credit. Bob
finds her photograph online and wants to display it on
the front page of his website. Bob puts Jane's picture
on his site, and clearly indicates Jane's authorship.
– www.creativecommons.org/learn/licenses
creative commons’ licenses explained
• Noncommercial. You let others copy, distribute,
display, and perform your work — and derivative
works based upon it — but for noncommercial
purposes only.
– Examples: Gus publishes his photograph with a
Noncommercial license. Camille incorporates a piece
of Gus's image into a collage poster. Camille is not
allowed to sell her collage poster without Gus's
permission.
– www.creativecommons.org/learn/licenses
creative commons’ licenses explained
• No Derivative Works. You let others copy,
distribute, display, and perform only verbatim
copies of your work, not derivative works based
upon it.
– Example: Sara licenses a recording of her song with
a No Derivative Works license. Joe would like to cut
Sara's track and mix it with his own to produce an
entirely new song. Joe cannot do this without Jane's
permission (unless his song amounts to fair use).
– www.creativecommons.org/learn/licenses
creative commons’ licenses explained
• Share Alike. You allow others to distribute
derivative works only under a license identical to
the license that governs your work.
– www.creativecommons.org/learn/licenses
open source as art
• 2004 golden nica award from ars electronica to the
creative commons project
• 1999 golden nica award from ars electronica to the linux
operating system
• See the ‘Takeovers & Makeovers’ conference,
November 7 & 8, 2008 @ UC Berkeley
– http://bcnm.berkeley.edu/takeovers/
art as open source
• open_source_art_hack, 2002
– steve dietz and jenny marketou
– http://www.netartcommons.net/
• florian cramer essay
is software a form of politics?
• The code of cyberspace -- whether the Internet, or net within
the Internet -- the code of cyberspace defines that space. It
constitutes that space. And as with any constitution, it builds
within itself a set of values, and possibilities, that governs life
there ... I've been selling the idea that we should assure that
our values get architected into this code. That if this code
reflects values, then we should identify the values that come from
our tradition -- privacy, free speech, anonymity, access -- and insist
that this code embrace them if it is to embrace values at all. Or
more specifically still: I've been arguing that we should look to the
structure of our constitutional tradition, and extract from it the values
that are constituted by it, and carry these values into the world of
the Internet's governance -- whether the governance is through
code, or the governance is through people.
• “Open Code and Open Societies: Values of Internet Governance,”
Larry Lessig (1999)
open source in general
• what, other than software, might be open
source?
larry lessig on free culture
• larry lessig’s book entitled free culture
• you can download it for free from here:
– http://www.free-culture.cc/freecontent/
• you can listen to him explain it here:
– http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1785931
next time: networks and protocols